Mizzou Football Position Preview: Running Backs

Look no further than the rushing attack to find the identity of Missouri football in the Eli Drinkwitz Era. In three of his six seasons at the head of the program, a Missouri tailback has eclipsed 1,600 yards, been a Doak Walker award finalist and led the Southeastern Conference in rushing yards. That doesn't happen by chance.

The 2025 season was arguably the best rushing attack of them all, racking up 2,968 yards and 31 touchdowns on the ground, both of which were the program's highest total since the 2013 season, when four different Tigers rushed for 500 or more yards and four or more touchdowns. Leading the esteemed 2025 ground game was breakout Louisiana transfer Ahmad Hardy, who broke Missouri's single-season rushing record. His wingman, Jamal Roberts, tacked on an additional 753 yards and six touchdowns.

Both Hardy and Roberts are returning for the 2026 season, but due to Hardy's injury status, the state of the running back room is much more of a question mark than it was in the spring. While the room is loaded with talent, has quite a rich history of recent production and returns both key members from a season ago, the rushing attack could play out a little different come fall.

Here's everything to know about Missouri's tailbacks in 2026.

Projected Depth Chart

Starter: Ahmad Hardy (when healthy)

Backups: Jamal Roberts, Xai'Shaun Edwards

Depth: Malae Fonoti, Maxwell Warner, Preston Hatfield

Players lost: Marquise Davis, Tavorus Jones, Brendan Haygood

The Coach

Sept 27, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers running backs coach Curtis Luper wears an orange bow tie during Tiger Walk. | Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSI

One of the main factor's in Missouri's success in the ground game is running backs coach Curtis Luper, who's been in the position for all six of Drinkwitz's seasons with the program and is one of the best running back coaches in the nation. Luper also coached alongside Drinkwitz at Auburn in 2010 and 2011.

"He's been there from the beginning," Drinkwitz said of Luper at SEC Media Days. "He's seen the highs, the lows. I'm sure we get on each other's nerves at times, but he's Mr. Consistent. He's a guy that I can really count on. I know he's going to handle our room. You look at the production of our room, wether you're talking about Larry Rountree III, or Tyler Badie, or Cody Schrader, to Nate Noel, to Ahmad Hardy, to Jamal Roberts. He's done an excellent job of getting production at that position."

Since his arrival to Columbia, three Tigers have broken the single-season rushing record: Tyler Badie in 2021, Cody Schrader in 2023 and Hardy in 2025. Larry Rountree III also eclipsed 1,000 yards in 2020 and made his way to the NFL the draft after.

Before his time at Missouri, Luper served as the running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator at TCU from 2013-19. He coached two 1,000-yard rushers, led four offenses to 2,400 or more rushing yards and helped lead the Horned Frogs to a Big 12 Championship in 2014.

“Coach Loop is a great guy; he pushes every day," Hardy said of Luper early in the 2025 season. "Even when we do wrong, we find a way to fix it. His personality, he just comes ready to work every day and we just come ready to work for him every day.”

The Starter

Oct 11, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers running back Ahmad Hardy (29) runs the ball against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter of the game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hardy's made quite the compelling case as the best tailback in program history, and he's only spent one season as a Tiger. After racking up 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns, along with leading the nation in yards after contact and ranking first in Power Five with 97 missed tackles forced, Hardy decided to stick around at Missouri for the 2026 season.

He did, however, face an unexpected setback earlier this offseason, as the star running back suffered a gunshout wound May 10 in Laurel, Mississippi, and underwent surgery shortly after. He's spent the majority of the offseason recovering in Columbia, and Drinkwitz provided a positive update on the tailback's health at SEC Media Days on Monday.

"Ahmad has been medically cleared from the bullet that struck him," Drinkwitz said. "He is on the road to recovery. The bullet did strike a bone in his body. That has been fully healed and cleared. Today was his first day back towards a full recovery."

Missouri does believe that Hardy will make a full recovery and will play this season. The matter of Hardy's injury status has shifted from "Will he play?" to "When will he play?" and "What will he look like upon returning?"

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz addresses the media Thursday in the Hyatt Regency during SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala. Sec Media Days Missouri | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

"We anticipate that he will make a recovery," Drinkwitz said. What that recovery will look like after having a bullet strike you is still to be determined. We do not know exactly what the return-to-play progression is because there's not a lot of literature on this.

"We do anticipate that this return-to-play protocol could take anywhere between five to eight weeks. At the end of the eight weeks, we still don't know what his recovery will be from a is he the same Ahmad Hardy that was last year."

Drinkwitz would later say he anticipates Hardy to be even better than before. That'd be quite astonishing, granted Hardy had an argument to be the nation's best tailback in 2025, but it's not a good idea to bet against Hardy.

If Hardy does return to full health and looks the same or better than he did in 2025, Missouri's running back room will once again be led by one of the most explosive backs in the country.

The Backups

Nov 29, 2025; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Missouri Tigers running back Jamal Roberts (20) rushes for a touchdown during the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While Hardy has a strong case to be the nation's best running back, Roberts has an equally strong case to be the nation's best RB2. He finished 10th in the SEC in rushing yards while playing a supporting role to Hardy, and was vital in the pass-protection game for a less-than-ideal quarterback carousel.

Roberts was already important to the offense, but with Hardy set to potentially miss a few games, Roberts may have to shoulder a heavier workload in the earlier parts of the season. Missouri should be quite thankful the St. Louis product opted to return instead of hitting the transfer portal.

There'll likely be a big gap between Roberts and whichever the third-string back is in terms of snaps and carries, but there's still interesting options to turn to. Redshirt freshman Xai'Shaun Edwards is joining the program after a standout season at the FCS level with Houston Christian, where he rushed for 1,019 yards and 12 touchdowns. Standing at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, Edwards is on the smaller side, but he makes up for it with explosive cuts and bursts of speed.

Look a little further down our projected depth chart, and you'll find Malae Fonoti, a Montana transfer who rushed for 418 yards in the last two seasons, and a pair of three-star incoming freshmen in Maxwell Warner and Preston Hatfield.

Biggest Question for Fall Camp: How Much Weight Can Jamal Roberts Carry?

With Hardy's return-to-play protocol timeline being placed at five-to-eight weeks, that puts the return anywhere from before Week 1 to before Week 3. But as Drinkwitz said, returning to play doesn't necessarily mean Hardy would be ready to jump in — it could be longer before we see him in game action, or fully-healthy.

If Hardy's recovery bleeds into SEC play, it'll be up to Roberts to step up as the engine of the rushing attack that's been oh-so prominent in recent seasons. We've seen Roberts be an elite RB2, but can he lead the offense?

The Final Word

"Our running backs, Jamal and Ahmad, I believe are the best one-two punch in the country," Drinkwitz said at SEC Media Days. "I think those guys are as good as anybody. I think we've also got incredible depth there. I think you're going to really be excited about Xai'Shaun, a transfer to us from (Houston Christian); Malae, a transfer from the University of Montana; and some freshmen that will be able to contribute."

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